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Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the state’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus is urging the federal Department of Justice to object to the set of new Senate lines adopted last month.

Camara says the Republican-drawn plan disadvantages the electoral representation of racial minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act, building off his denunciation of the plan when it was due for a vote. (Despite the strong words, many Caucus’ 48 members voted for the lines.)

So while there’s precedent to back the Republican-drawn plan, there’s a historical twist: this is the first time since the VRA was signed that the Department of Justice is controlled by a Democratic appointee during a time of redistricting. Let alone a black attorney general, Eric Holder, appointed by a black president, Barack Obama.

We’ll see how aggressive the DOJ is here.

This letter mentions those possible problems, and also gripes that districts downstate, where minorities are concentrated, are larger than predominately white Upstate districts. It also questions the Republicans’ decision to place a 63rd Senate seat along the western and southern edges of the Capital Region.

Despite the substantial difference in the population between upstate and downstate New York, the new State Senate seat is located upstate, instead of downstate. The new Senate seat was located downstate rather than upstate, I believe, because the Senate majority wanted to create a new White majority district in the hope of maintaining their majority in the New York State Senate.

Senate Democrats are challenging the lines in court. They contend the decision to upsize the chamber to 63 seats was reached based on an unlawful interpretation of the State Constitution.

Republicans have always contended their redistricting plan complies with the tenets of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the federal and state constitutions.

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